


Not as Expected

by Stariceling



Category: Big Wolf on Campus
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-10-28
Updated: 2007-10-28
Packaged: 2017-12-05 18:42:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/726587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stariceling/pseuds/Stariceling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merton always wanted a puppy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not as Expected

**Author's Note:**

> Possibly no one cares but me, but this goes off season 1 canon, where Merton mentions the only thing he's allergic to is cats. (I think that gets contradicted later, but that's my canon for here.)

Merton had always wanted a dog. They were supposed to be lovable and loyal and intelligent. Man’s best friend and all that jazz. Plus, unlike the cat his sister wanted, dogs didn’t make him sneeze. In short, the perfect pet.

Of course when he was young a puppy was considered too much responsibility. No matter how badly he wanted a four-legged friend of his own he knew it wouldn’t happen. A puppy would bark and shed and make a mess. It would need to be walked and fed and housetrained. There was no way his parents would trust him with something like that.

Not that lacking a puppy meant he was all alone. Merton had his own invisible (well, imaginary) friend to stick by him. Not as fuzzy and snuggly as a puppy, but for a few years it was enough that he had someone to keep him company when he was bored or lonely.

As Merton got older he forgot about wanting a playful and friendly puppy. More than anything he decided he wanted a hell hound. An arcane guard dog to chew up his enemies and spit out the ashes. He knew, logically, that getting a dog like that was even less likely than getting the puppy. Never mind the apparent impossibility of finding a hell hound in Pleasantville in the first place, he knew that kind of dog would be too much trouble to keep. It would bite and gnaw things and make a mess. It would need to be fed and exercised and he would probably run out of enemies to take care of that pretty quickly.

At least he had a pet he liked, even if snakes did not make effective guardian pets at all. They were more likely to leave shed skins in inconvenient places and doze under his desk lamp than actually leap to his defense. Not that corn snakes were known for their ‘leaping’ abilities. Or that he could take them to school with him, anyway.

Between lacking the puppy and adopting the snakes, it wasn’t a surprise that by the time Tommy just appeared in his lair on that full moon night, Merton had never had a dog of his own. The idea had grown old and unused enough that he had mostly forgotten how badly he wanted one in the first place. It was something he was mostly resigned to, and having Tommy around made him forget the idea completely. Partly because his life became pretty chaotic at that point, but mostly because having a wolf around was just that much better.

Tommy might track in mud and shed all over his lair, and Merton had to pick burrs out of his fur every once in a while, and there were the claw marks he had left on Merton’s desk. . . but Merton didn’t think he could be any more trouble than a dog. Unlike the puppy Merton had wanted, Tommy was already housebroken, he didn’t make that much noise, and besides he did his best to keep Merton safe and all in one piece. Even though Tommy made the best ‘guard dog’ Merton could have asked for, he was also much better than the imagined hell hound. Things never came down to people being bitten or mauled, and Tommy was a better friend to him than any demon.

Sure Tommy wouldn’t let Merton scratch behind his ears or give him a tummy rub or any of those doggy things, and he did tend to make a mess and could easily get both of them in a lot of trouble, but he was Merton’s best friend. When all was said and done, a best friend was what Merton had always wanted, more than any dog.


End file.
